No one has built the small and reliable tunneling robot that works good however, it makes sense that research and development dollars are spent these I need such a system. In order to make sure the tunneling robot works properly it will need to be loaded with the number of sensors and the choices will determine how well it works.

Recently this subject came up in an online think tank when a member asked the following questions; Other applications, if provided enough of a connectivity, what else could be installed into the equipment? Low power Sonar? Light weight radar? How about Reflective Ultrasound? Give the equipment eyes.

It would make sense for the unit to have perhaps in optical flow sensor running off a tiny OS, lidar, sonar and ultrasound to avoid or maneuver around certain rock formations or inpenatratable barriers which were made to dense of material. I would agree that ultrasound would be key to the viability and performance of the tunneling robot.

It also makes sense for inspecting broken pipelines or tunneling through debris after an earthquake. In the case of a military operation or a tunneling robot, which was used by the FBI for a hostage situation it might also be important to have a remote video camera, which would send back real-time imagery. Perhaps we should consider all this in 2006.